Increased QRS Duration on ECG Tied to Cardiovascular Mortality

Increased QRS Duration on ECG Tied to Cardiovascular Mortality

(HealthDay News) – Increased QRS duration on electrocardiogram (ECG) is an independent predictor of cardiovascular mortality, according to a study published in the Sept. 1 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology.

The researchers found that over 106,244.6 person-years of follow-up there were 1,433 cardiovascular deaths. After adjusting for established risk factors, the highest quartile of QRS duration was associated with significantly higher cardiovascular mortality than the lowest quartile (hazard ratio [HR], 1.3). There was also a significant association between both left bundle branch block (BBB; HR, 2.4) and right BBB (HR, 1.9) and increased cardiovascular mortality. There was an overall net reclassification improvement of 4.4% with the addition of the QRS duration in 10-millisecond increments to the Framingham Risk Score model.